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[ColePowered]

So I think Chillingo just ripped off the main concept behind one of my games.

Art style and theme aside, their latest game 'Fright Heights' in a lot of ways seems very similar to my first real attempt at an indie game 'MegaCity' from 2011.

Here's Fright Heights:
http://www.chillingo.com/games/fright-heights/

And here's a few screenshots of mine:
MegaCity
MegaCity
MegaCity

Apart from changing the theme from city building to haunted house, the concept looks very similar. Especially the play tile list on the left. Also note the score counters- on theirs they are displayed for each row on the right side of the screen, as their game operates vertically whereas mine operates horizontally and the counters are displayed on top.

The idea behind the gameplay being each tile piece effects its surroundings in different ways (which is shown to you by the coloured squares). Once you reach a target score, the column (or in their case row) is cleared, leaving more room to place new tiles.

I haven't played it yet, I don't think I can stomach it right now. But clearly the person behind that game played MegaCity, surely. Yet it looks different enough that I'm not sure I can do anything.

I know game genres evolve by borrowing ideas and building on them, and I don't want to try to claim ownership of a general concept or gameplay mechanic. But this seems a little too similar for comfort. Am I wrong?

I'd like opinions/advice. I don't really know what to do.

[Blambo]

, so I doubt it.

[ColePowered]

From what I can tell from that video, One Piece Mansion is nowhere near as similar to either as fright heights is to megacity.

[Blambo]

Yeah it doesn't have the row clearing mechanic, upon further inspection, but at least it looks like the tiles affecting surroundings concept has been done before.

Do you have any other proof for this accusation? So far it just seems to be an unfortunate coincidence.

[Sved]

It does look similar, but I'm not sure the idea is original enough to claim ownership over the concept. You could address a complaint to Apple if you are on the store, Spry Fox did manage to get Yeti town out.

You need to prove that they either infringe on your intellectual property or harm your sales. I would suggest to contact a IP lawyer to know what you can do and what they can do on their side (usually 1st consultation is free). You could write an email to them but you need to be clear on what you expect beforehand.

[moi]

It does look similar, but I'm not sure the idea is original enough to claim ownership over the concept.

Even if they did rip it off , they were at least gentleman enough to wait 2 years.
Game mechanics get ripped all the time, that's the nature of this business.

[Leon Fook]

Gameplay might be similar, but the execution is different so it's not a ripoff. Even though it's the same gameplay with yours, you can't sue. Even if you sue, you will not win the sue. Because gameplay can never be pattern or copyrighted. Else Rockstar will sue THQ/Volition, etc etc.

One thing is, you gotta play their game to see if their game feels the same with yours. Is the pace faster? etc etc.

[ColePowered]

Thankyou for the input guys.

First let me say I made this thread when I was a bit angry and hot headed from finding out. It was more to vent than anything, and I didn't think any kind of legal action would be a viable option, even yesterday when posted this.

I have played the game now. The gameplay is close to a direct rip off of MegaCity, and it kinda feels like a big deal because I don't actually believe there is anything else out there with those exact mechanics. The execution is pretty darn similar, right down to the tutorial. It feels a bit like a re-skin of my game.

The theme and most of the art is different. There is a bit more animation than in my game (although the game runs very poorly for a 2D game on my iphone 4). They have the usual free-to-play coin system in there. There's a facebook connection thing and a star system. But that's about where the differences end.

If anybody wants to see for theirself, here are some promo codes for MegaCity:
LY3H4LAHFJ4X, LE34HTT3WE4P, M364LWHA643K, 6TFE39K97F6W, KKJAN4AMRYMW, JMA7T4T4PNYY, 4ENRRJ96X7PM, HARH9X66JYA9

Chillingo were just the publisher in this scenario, it was made by a Canadian Studio. I think I'm going to try and open a dialogue with them next. I would like to see if they have any comments to make.

You're all right ofcourse, ideas get copied all the time. It's just incredibly frustrating to see studios steal your idea- and probably make way more money off it than I did.

[moi]

You're all right ofcourse, ideas get copied all the time. It's just incredibly frustrating to see studios steal your idea- and probably make way more money off it than I did.

Yes it's frustrating especially if you took the time to fine tune the gameplay and everything. But as soon as you release it, it's fair game.

[Leon Fook]

Your case, though, is better than Vlambeer's Ridiculous Fishing, which potentially harm the sales and emotion of the developer. It still hurt though. And i think you're right, you should talk to them, in calm mind.

[Sved]

You need to know what you want before you reach to them. You want them to acknowledge? Make excuses? Give you royalties? Shareholding?

The publisher is the one who will hurt most if there is a problem or bad PR out of this. So you could reach them first, but if you tell them, they have the initiative to take action before you do to save their ass and screw you. So you better be prepared and check out what is possible for both, in case they are not nice people.

[Nathan Cash]

If they did in fact knowingly rip off your game and you threaten to take legal action (even if its a threat you cant back up) there is a good chance they will give you some sort of settlement.

[Rat Casket]

There are a handful of games like this out there.

[Radix]

If they did in fact knowingly rip off your game and you threaten to take legal action (even if its a threat you cant back up) there is a good chance they will give you some sort of settlement.

no there isnt

[s0]

game mechanics arent protected by copyright, i don't think there is anything you can do legally.

[5I6VATR]

i invented city games with swquares im guna sue both of you

[poe]

sigtarr'd

[Mr Speaker]

That certainly look perdy similar to my untrained eye - I reckon I'd be a bit pissed too. Stealing a mechanic is all fine n dandy (especially if it's an improvement to the original) - but this looks like... like a re-skin.

I guess you could see it as a complement: someone liked your game so much they ripped it off!

[ryansumo]

Being a huge fan and evangelist of Megacity (I've shown it to quite a few friends) this is rather disappointing.  I'll download fright night and see for myself.

I'm no lawyer, so I'm not sure what your legal options are.  Sved is right that you should probably set your expectations and know what you want before you go into it.  My general feeling is that it's hard to say anyone stole anything in the creative industry.  We borrow so much from our influences that it's hard to know when you're crossing the line.  To be honest I'd been thinking of making a game that's like megacity and triple town combined, so yeah...

Your game mechanic IS pretty unique though, so maybe talk to spry fox about it.  afaik that was the argument they used in their case.

Good luck!

[Fallsburg]

No, spry fox was in negotiations to make a game for 6waves and gave 6waves private early access to the game.  6waves used that to clone the game. 

That is entirely different than person A releasing a game and then person B releasing a similar game 2 years later.